Nikola Jokic

Nikola Jokić (Serbian: Никола Јокић, Romanized: Nikola Jokić, born February 19, 1995) is a Serbian men's basketball player. Nicknamed "Joker" due to similar names and unpredictable passing skills and organizational abilities. Currently playing for the Denver Nuggets of the NBA, he plays center position. He was selected by the Denver Nuggets with the 41st overall pick in the second round of the 2014 NBA Draft. In the 2020-21 season, he won the first regular season MVP of his career and became the first second-round draft player in the history of the league to win the NBA Most Valuable Player. He was also the lowest-ranked annual MVP in the history of the league. The following season, he received the second NBA Most Valuable Player award in his career, completing his second consecutive MVP victory. In the 2022-23 season, he led the Golden Nuggets to win the first NBA championship in team history. He averaged 30.2 points, 14 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.4 steals in the finals series and won the first NBA Finals MVP. He was also the lowest-ranked NBA Finals MVP in the history of the league, but compared to the NBA championship. In the entire 20 games of the playoffs, Jokic made ten triple-doubles, surpassing Chamberlain's record of 7 games in a single season in 1967. He accumulated 600 points, 269 rebounds and 190 assists. All three statistics ranked first in the playoffs, which was the first time in NBA history. He is also the only center in history to reach 6,000 assists.